


you left me in the dark

by hartbeat



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02
Genre: Bioluminescence, Cardiophilia, Confessions, Gen, Heartbeat Kink, Heartbeats, M/M, glow kink, oops i did it again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:47:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23291188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hartbeat/pseuds/hartbeat
Summary: a surprising side effect of jogressing forces daisuke and ken to confront their feelings about each other and their new partnership.
Relationships: Ichijouji Ken & Motomiya Daisuke | Davis Motomiya, Ichijouji Ken/Motomiya Daisuke | Davis Motomiya
Comments: 10
Kudos: 39
Collections: Daiken Discord Server





	you left me in the dark

**Author's Note:**

> this is the oddly specific kink that only i have but thats FINE. ITS FINE
> 
> contact me on twitter @fawnmons if you're interested in joining the daiken discord server!

it’s a stupid, stupid idea, showing up at ken’s door in the real world the day after jogressing with him for the first time. hikari said he was being too straightforward, and maybe he is, but he has no other way to process this. he  _ has  _ to see ken again, to talk to him about what happened — to somehow, some way, get him to see that they’re meant to be partners.

and that’s why daisuke is knocking on the ichijoujis’ door that morning after getting off the train in tamachi, so early that chicomon is still fast asleep inside his backpack. his other hand is shoved deep in his vest pocket and his shoulders are tense with nerves. he doesn’t know who will answer, but he steels himself for anything. another minute more, and the door opens.

“hello?”

it’s a woman with a kind face, presumably ken’s mom. better get explaining.

“uh... hi, are you mrs. ichijouji?”

“yes, that’s me,” she replies, then pauses for a moment. “...are you a friend of ken-chan’s?”

there’s an odd note of hope in her voice. daisuke's cheeks tint pink.

“i... yes, i am.” well, at least he’d sure  _ like  _ to be. “...is he home?”

mrs. ichijouji looks positively  _ delighted. _

“oh yes, he’s in his room, i’ll go get him! come right in!”

“thank you, mrs. ichijouji.” daisuke dips his head in a polite bow and steps inside, busying himself with removing his shoes at the door while ken’s mom scurries off to find her son. a moment later he hears ken’s voice and follows it to find him just barely peeking out of his room as his mother announces that his  _ friend  _ is here to see him. his deep blue eyes meet daisuke's, serious as the grave. daisuke sheepishly waggles his fingers at him in greeting.

he murmurs something to his mom and she walks away, throwing an overly joyful, nearly  _ teary  _ smile at daisuke on the way out. somehow her excitement about his visit only makes ken’s lack thereof feel  _ worse,  _ and daisuke gnaws on his bottom lip as he awkwardly approaches ken’s bedroom door.

“motomiya-kun,” ken states, and that’s all.

“ichijouji, i... i just wanted to talk to you, about yesterday.”

“i said i needed time to think,” ken reminds him. his tone is surprisingly not as stern as daisuke would have expected — it’s a little annoyed, but still betraying some of the uncertainty they’re both feeling.

“i know, but...”

“you really shouldn’t have come here.”

“i know.” daisuke ducks his head guiltily, shoulders hunched on either side of it. he grits his teeth, scrunches his eyes shut, and blurts out, “i just need to know if you felt the same way!”

ken’s tone softens. “motomiya-kun, i...”

and then he stops short, breath catching in his throat.

“what is that.”

daisuke cracks an eye open, and then the other. ken’s face is bathed in a bright light that wasn’t there before his confession. startled, daisuke looks around wildly for the source before realizing, with a flip of his stomach, that it’s coming from his own chest.

“i — i don’t know —“

but before he has a chance to even try and figure it out, ken grabs him by the sleeve and yanks him into his bedroom, shutting the door and locking it behind him.

“motomiya, you’re  _ glowing,”  _ ken hisses.

“you are too!” daisuke points out, completely dumbfounded. in the darkness of ken’s bedroom it’s easy to distinguish that there are actually  _ two  _ lights, one tinted blue and one tinted green, each emanating from the boys’ chests. realizing this too, ken’s face goes scarlet red in the contrasting light and he flattens a hand over the front of his shirt to try and stifle it.

daisuke, however, allows himself to embrace whatever the hell is going on, staring down at his own blue light in awe. accompanying it is a comforting warmth that spreads through him with every breath, every beat of his heart. he begins to suspect the light is his heart itself, or at least coming from it, as he can see it subtly pulsing. he looks over at ken and sees that, beneath his mortified expression and desperate attempt to hide it, his light is flickering in the exact same rhythm. a thrill runs through him.  _ they’re still connected.  _ but daisuke didn’t need a light to tell him that. he can still feel ken, even now — his troubled thoughts, his fear, his guilt, all colliding with daisuke's overwhelming desire to understand and accept him. it’s not as intense as when their digimon were combined, but the feeling of unity he’d felt then hasn’t left him. and seeing the light emanating from within ken’s chest makes him think that maybe he can feel it, too.

daisuke notices both lights beginning to pulse faster with ken’s rising panic as the other boy asks in a hushed, strangled voice: “do you think this has something to do with — paildramon?”

_ duh.  _ for a genius, ken can sure be dense. but daisuke goes easy on him. “it  _ has  _ to.”

ken turns to the elevated bunk bed behind him. “leafmon? leafmon, are you awake?”

the blankets stir and leafmon pokes his adorable little face out from between the railings.

“ken-chan? what’s going on?” he asks groggily.

“i’m... not sure,” ken says, lowering his hand to fully reveal the light he’d been trying to hide.

leafmon gasps. “are you alright?”

“i think so,” he glances sideways at daisuke, “but I don’t know what’s happening to us.”

“i do,” daisuke says, stepping forward suddenly.

“motomiya...”

“it’s because — it’s because we’re partners, like i said!”

ken looks fully irritated now.

“that’s why our —“ he lowers his voice to a strained whisper again. “—our  _ hearts  _ are  _ glowing?” _

“they’re connected,” daisuke says stubbornly, defensively cupping the light in his palm as he clutches at the front of his shirt.  _ "we’re  _ connected.”

he takes another step forward, then another, closing the distance between him and ken, who shrinks back against the bunk ladder. 

“i know this is hard to accept. i know you don’t want to let me in, but — look, i’m already inside.”

daisuke gestures from the light in his chest to ken’s, which seem to be getting brighter, flickering faster, mirroring the intensity of their shared emotions. he’s blushing just as hard as ken now as he musters up the courage to continue.

“i  _ know  _ we’re supposed to be partners. if paildramon wasn’t enough, then what could be better proof than this?”

he throws his arms out to either side of himself, letting the pounding light in his chest speak for itself. ken’s shocked face flashes in and out of obscurity in the harsh glow. he still doesn’t speak a word in response -- no agreement, no denial. daisuke's arms fall to his sides again in defeat, hands curling in tight.

“i just need to know... if you feel it too.”

“of course i feel it,” ken murmurs quietly.

daisuke looks up at him in surprise. the lights keep flashing, but now his leaps with hope.

“you do?”

“if you know me so well, couldn’t you tell?” ken retorts.

“well... yeah, i guess,” he mumbles, “but then why did you run away?”

“not everyone is as confident in their feelings as you are, daisuke,” ken says ruefully. “but this...”

his fingers graze over the front of his own glowing shirt, as the green light beneath now pulses gently with acceptance.

“...this  _ does  _ make them kind of hard to ignore.”

sighing, he sinks to the floor with his back against the ladder to his bunk. daisuke follows suit, sitting cross-legged across from him on the carpet.

“how am i going to hide this,” ken murmurs.

“you don’t have to hide. not from me,” daisuke insists earnestly.

ken gives him a long-suffering but almost _ fond  _ look, his cheeks darkening again. “...i meant  _ everyone else.” _

“oh,” daisuke blushes slightly too. “we’ll figure something out.”

“is it really coming from our —?”

“i think so,” daisuke says. deciding he should probably investigate it, he grabs the hem of his shirt and pulls it up to his chest to get a better look. he’d expected something like it, but he’s still shocked to see the shadows of his ribs cast dark against his skin by the light emanating from inside him. the pulsing rhythm is even more obvious without his shirt to diffuse the glow, a clear reflection of their shared heartbeat. ken’s eyes go wide and he leans forward, fingers outstretched and only centimeters away from touching daisuke's backlit sternum before he pulls away with a pale look.

“oh,” is all he can say, crossing his arms over his own chest, obviously a bit disturbed by the sight of daisuke's insides.

“kinda freaky, huh?” daisuke chuckles nervously, lowering his shirt back down to not make ken any more uncomfortable. “so what should we do?”

“well, it only started when we started talking about jogress,” ken reasons.

“it only started when we started talking about our  _ feelings,"  _ daisuke corrects.

“so we should stop.”

“no, we should _ finish.” _

ken goes quiet.

“tell me, ichijouji,” daisuke urges gently, “if you felt the same way, why did you run away?”

“this… this is all just happening so fast,” ken admits, and then the words begin to spill out of him in one fretful stream. “you’re changing things about me and i’m  _ scared.  _ i don’t think i’m worthy of being your friend, let alone your  _ partner.”  _

as he speaks, his hands clasp together, folded toward his chest as if to protect the vulnerable light inside. the sight tugs at daisuke's heartstrings and he clutches at his own glowing heart to prevent himself from reaching out for ken’s.

“you’re changing me too, ichijouji. but i like it. i like  _ you,"  _ daisuke insists as the light pulses simultaneously through both of their fingers. “not just because of what our digimon can do together. you’re  _ good  _ and i want to help you see that.”

ken looks away, shrouding his face in darkness. “how can you think that, after all i’ve done?”

“i don’t just think it, i  _ know  _ it.”

ken shakes his head incredulously.

“there you go again, so confident in your feelings.”

“i just believe in them. and believe me, i believe in  _ you,"  _ daisuke says with an encouraging grin.

ken’s hands fall to his lap as he shakes his head again softly. “i wish i could too.”

“then i’ll teach you.” daisuke offers his hand out to ken like he had in the digital world the day prior, thinking that maybe now, after fully sharing his feelings, he’d be able to take it. “deal?”

ken stares intently at the boy across from him, face illuminated once again by the cyan glow of their mingling lights, twinkling in his eyes. he swallows once, then nods and holds out his hand.

“deal.”

the moment their fingers touch, the glow begins to subside, getting dimmer with each successive heartbeat until they’re left with a barely-lit room. with an incredulous laugh, daisuke shakes ken’s hand in triumph.

“it worked! i was starting to think i was going to be a permanent night light!” he jokes, but when he hears ken’s soft chuckle, he thinks it wouldn’t be such a bad fate if it meant he were able to chase away his darkest fears.

just then, daisuke's backpack rustles and chicomon squeezes himself out of the half-open zipper, plopping to the ground and hopping around daisuke.

“hi daisuke! hi ken! what’d i miss!”

“they were glowing!” leafmon supplies from the top bunk.

chicomon stops bouncing in circles to instead jump up and down in place between the two chosen children. “wow, cool! do it again, do it again!”

“no!” daisuke and ken reply at once, then daisuke laughs and ken covers his mouth with a surprised hand.

“why not!” chicomon pouts as daisuke leans down to scoop him up.

“‘cause we just got it to  _ stop  _ and we have to get back to odaiba anyway! the rest of the guys are waiting for us to go to the digital world!”

“are ken and leafmon coming too?” chicomon asks, and daisuke turns to ken with a warm smile.

“well, what do you say?”

ken looks up at leafmon, who’s nodding as enthusiastically as his round body will allow, pacifier bobbing in his mouth.

“we’ll be around,” ken concedes, and then  _ tries,  _ delicately tasting the word on his tongue:

_ “partner.” _

at that, daisuke beams brighter than any light he could have emitted.

**Author's Note:**

> if you made it here THANK YOU, I HOPE YOU LIKED IT, also i have two sequel ideas already lined up so let me know if you liked it enough to want more lol
> 
> [ALSO I DREW ONE OF THE SCENES FROM THIS FIC if you wanna see some art!!!](https://twitter.com/fawnmons/status/1261576166411993089?s=21)


End file.
